


Out of My Mind

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Series: The World Turned Upside Down. [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Shiro leaves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-23 02:42:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11980386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: Shiro, Matt Holt, and Sam Holt have a big announcement for everybody, one that no one is happy about.





	Out of My Mind

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone waiting patiently for Keith to be messed up after the whole kidnapping, I promise that I will get around to it. It is going to happen. Just not right now.

“Hey.”

Lance grunted as Keith dropped into a seat next to him. “Hi.”

“What’d I miss?”

“The usual. Mitochondria, powerhouses, blah, blah, blah.”

“A whole day and the teacher said blah, blah, blah.”

“You know what I mean. How’re you doing?”

Keith shrugged. “Head’s a little…” He made explosion gestures. “But other than that, I’m great. I heard… Hunk told me that Annalise…”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

Lance sniffed a little. “Yeah, well, all good things have to end eventually.”

“When’s she…”

“As soon as they’re packed. Couple of weeks, tops. By the way, Katie invites you over. Apparently, there’s a thing. And she wants me you and Hunk to be there.”

“A thing?”

“A thing. I don’t think even she knows. But Shiro has a thing too, and they must be related, because they’re going to announce it all together.”

“Weird.”

“Yeah.”

“Kogane? McClain? Would you like to pay attention now?”

 

 

“What’s going on?”

Katie hugged Keith with wide eyes. “I don’t know. Matt, Dad and Shiro are all super serious. My mom doesn’t know any more than we do, and the boys aren’t telling us.” She spotted Lance and punched him in the arm. “Good to see you, loser.”

Lance rubbed his arm, wincing. “Back at ya.”

“Hunk!” Katie wrapped her arms around the big boy. “I missed you! Good to see you!”

“Go figure,” Lance grumbled, “You get a hug, Hunk gets a hug and I get punched and called loser.”

Keith grinned. “That is the highest degree of affection from Katie. I still have yet to be called loser, although I have gotten the punching before.”

“Highest degree of affection, huh.”

Keith nodded wisely, trying as hard as he could to not crack up. “Oh, yes. That’s how she greets Matt _all_ the time.”

“Fantastic.”

“Hey, guys!” Shiro smiled, and it seemed to be his normal Shiro smile, but behind it, he seemed… sad.

“What’s going on?”

The smile slid right off of Shiro’s face. “I… We’ll tell you when everyone is here.”

“Who are we waiting for?”

“My parents.”

“Wait, you have parents?”

Shiro raised one eyebrow at Lance. “Yeeeeesss. Where did you think I came from?”

Lance shrugged. “You just kind of came into existence to rescue Keith. Just _poof,_ Shiro.”

“Poof, Shiro.” Shiro sounded highly amused by the whole exchange. Keith was glad to see at least some of his old humor. He didn’t like how serious and tense everything was, and his main mood set was serious and tense.

There was a knocking on the door, and Katie opened up to a concerned Mr. and Mrs. Shirogane.

“Takeshi, what’s going on? We haven’t heard from you in a while, and now you just called, and-”

Shiro gently hugged his mother. “I’ll explain everything to you, Mom. I promise. But I don’t want to do it more than once, which is why everybody is here.”

Keith nodded politely to Shiro’s parents. “Hi.”

“Has he told you anything,” Shiro’s mother whispered as Shiro walked into the main room, “He won’t tell me, and, well, you’re one of his best friends.”

Keith shook his head. “I know about as much as you, which would be nothing.”

“Can everybody come in here please?” Keith, Katie, Hunk, Lance and the Shiroganes all walked to the room where the Holts and Shiro were waiting.

Mr. Holt took a deep breath. “I have to tell you, especially you, Katie, and, of course, my loving wife.” He smiled anxiously at Mrs. Holt, who just looked at him with wide eyes. “I… I’ve been called as reserves. The fighting has gotten really bad, and… they need doctors.”

Mrs. Holt’s eyes filled with tears as she put one hand to her mouth. “No…” Realization dawned in her eyes and she turned to Matt. “No… not you too! No, you’re not even out of med school!”

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

“You can’t! You’re not even done!”

“They…” Matt took in a shuddering breath. “They said that they need assistants as well, and I can finish up my training there as I help the doctors and nurses.”

“No! They can’t!”

Mrs. Shirogane turned to Shiro with pleading eyes, eyes that were hoping beyond hope that his news was different, that he would have better news, that he wasn’t going to leave.

Her hopes were crushed. “They need me to fly supplies, doctors and troops so that the more experienced pilots can fight.”

“No, no, Takeshi, they can’t!”

He tried for a smile. “Hey, the good news is that I’ll probably be further away from the fighting, right? Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

Matt reached pleadingly towards Katie, who backed away, shaking her head before turning and running, tears streaming from her eyes.

“Ah! No! Katie!” he ran after her.

Keith felt like he’d been dropped a hundred feet and then suddenly yanked to a halt. Shiro was… leaving? And Matt? They… they had been his friends since he was eight, some of his only friends until this year. They couldn’t _leave._ What was he going to do without them?

 

 

“Hey. I can’t believe they actually let you facetime.”

Shiro made a face at him. “They almost didn’t. I can only do this for a few minutes, so make the most of it, kiddo.”

“I miss you.”

“Miss you too. Did you know that they somehow managed to make the food here _worse_ than Garrison food?”

“That’s possible?”

“Oh, yeah. I didn’t think it was possible, but they really pulled through and did it.”

“Done anything interesting?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve been assigned a plane. Number 24601, but I named her the _Rampion_.”

“You do realize that’s a type of lettuce?”

Shiro wrinkled his nose at Keith. “Har, har, har. Everyone’s a comedian now. Yes, I know it’s a kind of lettuce, but no one else knows that, and it sounds cool.”

“I’ve heard cooler.”

“Like what?”

“Apollo, Journey, Challenger, Kerberos.”

“I like that last one. I’ll take it.”

Someone shouted in the background, and Shiro’s face fell. “I’ve got to go now. Write some letters to my parents, train, fly supplies, that kind of thing. See you.”

Keith smiled, but there was no happiness. “Yeah. See you.” The screen shut off, leaving a black surface.

**Author's Note:**

> Next up: Shiro named his ship Kerberos. What do you think is up next?


End file.
